Non-violent anti-Wall protests held in four West Bank villages on Friday
IMEMC – Saturday March 05, 2011 – 04:22, On Friday afternoon, anti-Wall protests were organized in the villages of Bil’in, Nil’in and an-Nabi Saleh, in the central West Bank, as well as al-Ma’sara in the south. Three were injured and dozens were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.

When Buying Dinner Becomes Dangerous
IMEMC – Saturday March 05, 2011 – 03:59, On Thursday, February 24, 20-year-old Mohammad Gharib of al-Issawiya village near Jerusalem was driving home, bringing dinner from a restaurant in Jerusalem.

Clashes Reported In Silwan
IMEMC – Saturday March 05, 2011 – 03:49, Local sources reported that clashes took place on Friday following noon prayers at the protest tent in Silwan town, in occupied East Jerusalem, as the local residents continued their protests against the ongoing violations and home demolitions.

Israel To Sue Bedouin Villagers For Cost Of Demolition
IMEMC – Friday March 04, 2011 – 14:05, The Alternative Information Center reports that Israel plans to sue the residents of al-Arakib, a Bedouin village in the Negev desert, for the costs of demolishing their homes.

Palestinian Prisoners Freed By Egypt, Arrive In Gaza
IMEMC – Friday March 04, 2011 – 09:16, Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip reported that a number of Palestinian prisoners who were detained by Egypt arrived on Thursday evening at the Rafah Border Terminal between the Gaza Strip and Egypt after being released by the Egyptian Authorities.

Israeli Air Force Bombards A Car In Gaza
IMEMC – Friday March 04, 2011 – 06:55, Palestinian sources reported, on Friday at dawn, that the Israeli Air Force fired at least one missile at a Palestinian vehicle in An-Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza completely destroying it; no injuries were reported.

Settlers chop down 500 trees in Nablus
3/4/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Settlers chopped down more than 500 olive trees owned by Palestinians in the West Bank district of Nablus on Friday, Palestinian Authority officials said. Residents of the illegal Shvut Rachel settlement raided Qusra village and chopped down the trees, said Ghassan Doughlas, PA official for settlement affairs in the northern West….

Witnesses: Airstrike targets central Gaza
3/5/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli warplanes struck a car in central Gaza Friday morning causing no injuries, witnesses said. Locals said Israeli fighter jets fired two missiles near the An-Nuseirat refugee camp, destroying a jeep belonging to a resistance fighter. Many Israeli drones were hovering over Gaza at the time of the raid, residents….

Anti-wall protest near Ramallah
3/4/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities sent infantry forces into the village of An-Nabi Saleh on Friday in order to prevent the residents from holding their weekly demonstration against the wall and settlements. Locals said Israeli forces occupied one of the houses in the village to monitor the movement of residents in the village especially….

Israel eyes diplomatic plan for Palestinian state
3/4/2011 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Facing growing isolation over the impasse in peace talks, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu is planning a new initiative to set up a Palestinian state within temporary borders, press reports said on Friday. The Israeli premier is largely expected to announce his new diplomatic initiative during a visit to the United States in….

Hamas to present new reconciliation plan
3/5/2011 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A political advisor to Prime Minster Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza says Hamas will present an initiative within the coming days on its government shakeup and rejection of Salam Fayyad’s unity government. Yousef Rezqa told Ma’an that “Hamas, with all of its departments, is considering presenting this initiative…. Related: Hamas confirms new unity plan underway

Police: Mentally ill woman detained near Bethlehem
3/4/2011 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained a young Palestinian woman south of Bethlehem on Friday for allegedly attempting to stab a soldier at the Etzion settlement junction. Amal Jamal Fakhri Taqatqa, 19, from Beit Fajjar, was arrested, security forces told Ma’an. The same officials said that according to a medical report provided….

EU’s Ashton mulls scrapping Mideast envoy job
3/4/2011 – BRUSSELS (AFP) — European Union chief diplomat Catherine Ashton has decided to leave the post of special envoy to the Middle East empty while she considers whether to scrap the position, diplomats said Friday. The decision comes at a sensitive time when the international community is trying to convince Israelis and Palestinians to return to the….

Report: Hamas officials to discuss Shalit in Damascus
3/4/2011 – TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — A delegation of senior Hamas officials left for Damascus on Thursday for talks with Khaled Mashal, during which the issue of captured solider Gilad Shalit will be discussed, Israeli media reported. The delegation left Gaza via the Rafah crossing. It originally set to leave at the end of January….

Chile’s Pinera seeks to push peace on Mideast trip
3/4/2011 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Chile’s recognition in January of a Palestinian state was aimed at helping end the Middle East conflict, President Sebastian Pinera said on Friday. Speaking to reporters on the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem, Pinera said Chile wanted to help the two sides work towards a peace agreement that would see….

In photos: Chilean miners in Bethlehem
3/4/2011 – MaanImages / Luay Sababa – Chilean miners, rescued after 69 days trapped underground in a collapsed mine in San Jose, Chile, visit the Nativity Church, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on Feb. 26, 2011. The 33 miners accompanied by their families visited Israel and the Palestinian territories….

Hamas confirms new unity plan underway
3/5/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas is preparing an initiative to restore national unity, the movement’s spokesman said. Sami Abu Zuhari told Ma’an that Hamas is preparing a comprehensive initiative to restore national unity. The initiative is in its final drafting and will be proposed to the other Palestinian factions soon…. Related: Hamas to present new reconciliation plan

Fatah lawmaker’s car torched in Nablus
3/4/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Fatah lawmaker Nasser Juma’a said unknown assailants set fire to his car in the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday night. Juma’a said his car was torched outside his home in the Al-Makhfieya area of the city. He accused the culprits of trying to spark lawlessness….

Salafi group: Hamas detained leader
3/4/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Sources in the At-Tawhid militant group on Friday confirmed reports that Hamas detained its leader in Gaza on Tuesday. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported Thursday that security forces detained Hisham Saidani from his home in Al-Maghazi refugee camp. Saidani is a leader of the Salafi faction, which is the armed….

Libya rebel town bombed
3/5/2011 – AJDABIYA, Libya (AFP) – Libyan forces carried out an air strike on the edge of the rebel-held town of Ajdabiya Friday, as opponents of veteran leader Moammar Gadhafi called fresh protests in the capital Tripoli. US President Barack Obama said all options were on the table for driving Gadhafi out of power as the strongman’….

Rebels ‘hold’ key refinery town as many killed
3/5/2011 – RASLANUF, Libya (AFP) — Libyan rebels said on Friday they had seized a key oil refinery town in some of the heaviest fighting of the rebellion that left many dead, a claim denied by a senior government official. With claim and counter-claim shifting with the battle lines in the North African country’s desert sands….

Libya rebels rule out talks
3/4/2011 – BREGA, Libya (AFP) – US President Barack Obama said all options were on the table for driving Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi out of power as rebels angrily ruled out talking to a dictator with “blood” on his hands. Despite grave reservations expressed by the US military command, Obama said a no-fly zone was among the….

Interpol issues global alert on Gadhafi, 15 others
3/4/2011 – PARIS (AFP) — Interpol has issued a global alert against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and 15 others, including members of his family and close associates, the global police organisation said on Friday….

Medic: ‘Many dead and wounded’ in Libya clashes
3/4/2011 – BREGA, Libya (AFP) — A doctor at one of the hospitals in the rebel-held east of Libya where casualties were being treated from fierce clashes with regime loyalists said Friday there were “many dead and wounded….

Oprah ‘to host show in Cairo’s Tahrir Square’
3/4/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — US television talk show star Oprah Winfrey is to host a live show from Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of a revolution that ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, a report said Friday. Egypt’s new tourism minister Munir Fakhri Abdelnur was quoted by the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper as saying Winfrey….

Official: West Libya in govt hands, east ‘problematic’
3/4/2011 – TRIPOLI (AFP) — Western Libya is totally in government hands but the east is “problematic,” a regime official said on Friday, admitting that the town of Brega was in rebel hands and that fighting was going on at Raslanuf further west….

Venezuela: Libya gov’t okays mediation effort
3/4/2011 – CARACAS (AFP) — Libya has given Venezuela the green light to form a mission to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis shaking the North African country, Venezuela’s foreign minister said Friday….

Tripoli denies key town in rebel hands
3/4/2011 – TRIPOLI (AFP) — A Libyan government source Friday contradicted an admission by another official that the oil centre of Brega in the east of the country was under rebel control….

Rebel spokesman: Blast at weapons depot outside Benghazi
3/4/2011 – BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) — A huge explosion on Friday ripped through a military weapons depot outside Benghazi, the main city held by Libyan rebels fighting Moamer Kadhafi, a spokesman for the rebel leadership said….

Libya govt denies Rasnaluf lost to rebels
3/4/2011 – TRIPOLI (AFP) — Libya’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim denied on Friday rebel claims that they had taken control of the oil refinery town of Rasnaluf….

Doctor: Blast kills 2 at Libya weapons depot
3/4/2011 – BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) — At least two people were killed and 12 wounded on Friday when a huge explosion ripped through a Libyan weapons depot outside Benghazi, the main city held by rebels, a doctor said….

Gadhafi demands suspension of UN sanctions
3/4/2011 – UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — Moammar Gadhafi’s regime on Friday demanded that the UN Security Council suspend sanctions taken against the Libyan leader over his crackdown on opposition protesters….

From Lebanon, With Pessimism and Hope
Palestine Note 4 Mar 2011 – Waleed Hazbun, New York Times – On the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 11, I received a text message from a colleague. The dinner she was hosting would be delayed a hour “on account of revolution.” The…

Ramallah’s desperate leadership.
Palestine Note 4 Mar 2011 – I was prompted to write this from a news article that appeared in today’s Alquds Alarabi reporting on a current visit to Paris by Dr. Nabil Sha’ath, Fatah chair of the foreign relation committee. Dr. Sha’ath…

Friday Prayers Again Lead to Mideast Protests
Palestine Note 4 Mar 2011 – Demands range from regime change to institutional reform New York Times – In what has become something of a weekly appointment for displaying disaffection with unresponsive governments, thousands of people poured into the streets across the…

Live Stream: Arab Voices
Palestine Note 4 Mar 2011 – Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV James Zogby on how to really understand the Arab world The New America Foundation’s Middle East Task Force invites you to join a very timely conversation with Dr. James Zogby, building on…

Troops Attack Anti-Wall Protests, Injuring Three
PNN – Ramallah — PNN — On Friday, three people were injured during anti-wall protests organized in the villages of Bil’in, Nil’in and al-Nabi Saleh, in the central West Bank as well as al-Ma’sara…

Israel to illegally Evict 2 Palestinian Families from Their Homes
4 Mar 2011 – Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) – An Israeli court ordered two Palestinian families from Beit Hanina, an East Jerusalem neighborhood, to evacuate their homes at the request of an Israeli who claimed that the land the homes were built on belong to him.

Lessons From EgyptPalestine and the Revolution
Uruknet March 4, 2011 – The rush and tumult of events makes it hard, sometimes, to draw the most important general conclusions from their significance. This said, the revolutionary tidal wave, which began in Tunisia and Algeria, reached its crest in Egypt and is currently sweeping other countries such as Libya and Bahrain, offers a unique opportunity to watch how…

The struggle for al-Araqib is the struggle for Palestine
Uruknet March 4, 2011 – Al-Araqib was the last village I visited before my arrest. Al-Araqib is not just a village, but the very heart of a nation and a people. On 5 May 2010, I was there under the tent of Sheikh Sayah, a local leader. There was a big crowd after the destruction and the reconstruction of the…

Palestinians at home, abroad protest division, leadership
Uruknet March 4, 2011 – Palestinian civil society groups are preparing for a day of mass sit-ins on 15 March, to protest the widening split between Palestinian political and resistance factions as Israel’s illegal occupation grinds on. As The Electronic Intifada reported, most of the groups involved in the 15 March organizing are led by Palestinian youth who are gravely…

West Bank’s wind of change challenges Palestinian Authority
Uruknet March 4, 2011 – The PLO leadership called for a Day of Rage across the occupied territories on 25 February, following the US veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution one week earlier condemning Israel’s continued settlement building. It sought thereby to deflect growing discontent at the Palestinian Authority (PA) and direct indignation at the US for protecting…

Settlers chop down 500 trees in Nablus
Uruknet March 4, 2011 — Settlers chopped down more than 500 olive trees owned by Palestinians in the West Bank district of Nablus on Friday, Palestinian Authority officials said. Residents of the illegal Shvut Rachel settlement raided Qusra village and chopped down the trees, said Ghassan Doughlas, PA official for settlement affairs in the northern West Bank. In a “day…

US Rendition and Torture: A New Front for Accountability Opens Up in Djibouti
Uruknet March 3, 2011 – The mainstream media in the US may not care about the significance of the Spanish National Court’s recent decision to allow an investigation into torture at Guant?°namo to proceed (the story was ignored by both the New York Times and the Washington Post, even though the Center for Constitutional Rights called it “the first real…

Lara Logan awareness rally met with anger
The National 5 Mar 2011 – The controversy surrounding that attack on the CBS reporter highlights the sensitive nature of talking about the endemic problem of sexual harassment in Egypt.

Battle to oust Libyan tyrant intensifies
Daily Star 4 Mar 2011 EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton has left the job of special envoy to the Middle East vacant while she decides whether to scrap the post, a decision that disappointed the Palestinians Friday. In another development, Hamas…

EU’s Ashton mulls scrapping Mideast envoy job
Daily Star 4 Mar 2011 EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton has left the job of special envoy to the Middle East vacant while she decides whether to scrap the post, a decision that disappointed the Palestinians Friday. In another development, Hamas…

Egypt’s new prime minister shows popular touch
Daily Star 4 Mar 2011 Egypt’s new prime minister told thousands of demonstrators in Tahrir Square Friday he was committed to the goals of their revolution and promised to take to the streets in protest if he could not deliver. In…

Tunisia’s interim PM says he will appoint new Cabinet in 2 days
Daily Star 4 Mar 2011 TUNIS: Tunisia’s interim prime minister, Beji Caid-Essebsi, said Friday he would appoint a new government in two days and accused toppled President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of “high treason” during his first public appearance since taking…

Anglican bishop of Jerusalem sues Israel over visa refusal
The Guardian 4 Mar 2011 – Suheil Dawani appeals against deportation order tied to claims he made illegal land transactions with Palestinians The Anglican bishop of Jerusalem has launched legal action against the Israeli government after it refused him and his family…

Biweekly Repression Update
Stop The Wall – This update contains exerts from testimony gathered by STW from a Bil’in resident shot with live ammunition during the February 18 demonstration. Over this period, one person was seriously injured and others were also hurt during weekly demonstrations. The number of arrests sky rocketed, with a total of 29 people, predominately youth, were arrested by Occupation forces.

Iran: Islam opposes nukes
YNet News – The development or use of nuclear weapons contradicts Iran’s religious principles and would violate the tenets of Islam, the country’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi …….

Jewish baby hurt by Arab stone throwers
YNet News – A Jewish baby was hurt by a marble and sustained light head wounds after young Arabs hurled stones at a Jewish home in east Jerusalem’s City of David district Friday …….

Israel Peace Week sweeps US campuses
YNet News – Responding to hate campaign: Pro-Israel students across the United States and Canada have launched a campaign to communicate messages about the Jewish state’s peace …….

Chief PA comptroller says Fayyad is corrupt
PIC 4 Mar 2011 – Mahmoud Abu Al-Rub, the PA comptroller, has uncovered Thursday that Salam Fayyad made a number of transactions that squandered millions of dollars from the money of the Palestinian people.

Settlers desecrate mosque in al-Khalil
PIC 4 Mar 2011 – Dozens of fanatic Jewish settlers, at dawn Thursday, stormed the Nabi Younis Mosque in the town of Halhoul to the north of the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil.

Mondo Award Winner: Sameeha Elwan
Mondoweiss – So far we’ve rolled out three of our winners from the Mondo Awards of the new year. Now here is our #5 winner (in order, going from the top inspirational piece, to be announced next week), winner of the Lyrical Award, Sameeha Elwan for her piece, “…

Defending the indefensible ‚Äî badly
Mondoweiss – The following is a piece from the Jerusalem Post (JPost), which is usually a pretty right-wing Israeli paper, but it has one amazing column called Rattling the Cage by Larry Derfner. Let me back up a minute. Last night I went to a debate about the…

“Our policies are almost criminal” — Israeli MK Ben-Simon
Mondoweiss – Roger Cohen’s latest NYT oped on Israel is a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s shot full of the usual subtle and not-so-subtle pro-Israel bias, eg, claiming Israel is a “vibrant democracy,” and a preposterous castigation ofAbbas for having the temerity to demand a UN resolution…

Girls’ School Evacuated After Bomb Threat
Palestine Monitor – Fareen Diyaseen unlocked the gates to the ‘Einabouss Secondary School for Girls before any other staff had arrived. The threats had already started, and her routine was interrupted by calls from scared parents. “If we got to face it, we will,” Diyaseen said she told parents…

Weiner-Baird debate lived up to its billing
Mondoweiss – Last night at the New School in New York, we had a great debate between two Democratic Party antagonists on the Israel/Palestine issue: Brian Baird, the former Washington state congressman, and Brooklyn congressman Anthony Weiner. The conversation was deftly moderated by Roger Cohen of the New…

Israel in Egypt: consistency among turmoil
Mondoweiss – The uprising in Egypt has sent shock waves throughout Israel. Egypt is Israel’s most powerful neighbour and an ally not only in the siege of Gaza but on a wide range of regional issues, including Lebanon, Iran and Iraq. Both Israel and Egypt are recipients of…

Lions, and Tigers, and Bi-National States—Oh My!
Tikun Olam – Bibi Netanyahu is being shaken out of his lethargy by the imminent threat that the Quartet may announce its recognition of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders as early as next week. To shock the other right-wingers in his coalition out of their stupor he’s raised…

Hasbaristas, Clickbombers and Other Fraudsters
Tikun Olam – I like to be as transparent as I can in writing and running this site, which sometimes involves revealing things other bloggers in my position might not. So this post is in that vein. In some ways, this blog relies on the “kindness of strangers.” I…

Top Israeli Academics Censure Bar Ilan for Firing Professor Over Political Beliefs
Tikun Olam – 70 senior Israeli academic signed a letter to the Council for Higher Education denouncing Bar Ilan University for using political considerations in its hiring and firing decisions. Dr. Ariella Azoulay, an international authority on photography and visual culture, was denied tenure after teaching there since 1999….

Middle East turmoil seen inspiring Palestinians
Palestine Monitor – RAMALLAH, March 1 (Mohammed Assadi/Reuters) – A wave of popular unrest in the Arab world will soon inspire Palestinians to wage non-violent protests of their own against Israel’s 43-year-old occupation, a prominent Palestinian has said. Mustafa Barghouthi, who came second in a 2005 presidential election behind…

West Bank wind of change
Joseph Dana 4 Mar 2011 – This piece was published on Le Monde Diplomatique and was co-written with Jesse Rosenfeld As protests multiply across the Arab world and grassroots resistance grows in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority faces popular anger for its investment in a failed ‘peace process’ The PLO leadership…

Facing up to Jewish nationalism and racist violence
Joseph Dana 3 Mar 2011 – This pieceoriginallyappearedon ElectronicIntifada and was co-authored with Max Blumenthal When we released the now famous and censored video Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem , we were widely attacked and dismissed for daring to publicize footage of college-age Jewish kids behaving like racist fanatics while intoxicated. We argued…

A rare instance of justice at the Ofer military court
Joseph Dana 3 Mar 2011 – Issa Amro with Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak at a demonstration in Hebron last year. Photo: Joseph Dana Nonviolent organizer Issa Amro was released from military prison this morning in a rare case of swift justice for Palestinians in the Israeli legal system. Amro, the director of…

Why we need to divest from the U.S.-backed Israeli Occupation
Stephen Shalom, Israeli Occupation Archive, ZNet3/4/2011
This evening a campaign is being launched at NYU to “Divest From the US-backed Israeli Occupation Now!”
Why is everybody always picking on Israel?
Is it anti-Semitism? Hostility to democratic values? Jewish self-hatred? Sympathy for terrorism?
On the contrary, this campaign represents an affirmation of democratic values. It represents a non-violent way to challenge state terrorism. And far from reflecting anti-Semitism or self-hatred it represents an opportunity for Jews and non-Jews to support universal human rights and human dignity.
But surely, it will be said, Israel is not the worst violator of human rights in the world. It is not. But there are at least four reasons why it is entirely appropriate that those in the United States concerned with social justice devote considerable attention to addressing Israeli crimes against Palestinians, and to U.S. backing for those crimes.
First, the Israeli occupation and its policy of building settlements and displacing the local population are unequivocally illegal and unjustified.
Second, the Israeli occupation has been a vicious one, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
Third, the Israeli occupation has been the most long-standing occupation in the world.
And fourth, our government, the United States government, has made possible this sordid record of occupation and abuse…. more..e-mail

What are the implications of Middle East-North Africa unrest for the future of the Israel-Palestine peace process?
Zulaikha Abdullah, Middle East Monitor (MEMO)2/28/2011
In an interview for the BBC during an emergency tour of the Middle East earlier this month, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “Amid the opportunity for countries like Tunisia and Egypt, there is a legitimate fear that the Middle East peace process will lose further momentum and be put to one side, and will be a casualty of uncertainty in the region.” Reiterating these perceptions in Tunis, he emphasised that the new status quo would “complicate the process still further” and stressed that it was time to “inject greater urgency into the Middle East peace process”, particularly on the part of Israel and the US.
However, the sea change in attitudes, expectation and demands on the Arab street in recent weeks resonates strongly in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in the light of revelations made last month in the leaked Palestine Papers and the subsequent resignation of lead Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
A prevalent view is that “peace negotiations” have for a long time been nothing more than an elaborate and interminable process of gradually subjugating and dispossessing the Palestinian people under pretexts of Israeli security considerations. Indeed, calls to return urgently to the negotiating table have been interpreted as “pre-emptive security measures to ensure the tremors of political revolt do not destabilize the status quo in the occupied territories” and are an attempt to circumvent the real issues of justice, democracy, dignity, and human rights.
….According to analysts, Israel’s peace with Egypt under Mubarak was its second greatest strategic asset after the United States. This was reflected clearly in Israel’s frantic international efforts to shore up support for the despotic leader as well as the close military ties it maintained with the regime as it fell, including airlifting anti-riot equipment to Cairo…. more..e-mail

A new era of Arab unity
Lamis Andoni, Ma’an News Agency3/4/2011
The Egyptian revolution, itself influenced by the Tunisian uprising, has resurrected a new sense of pan-Arabism based on the struggle for social justice and freedom. The overwhelming support for the Egyptian revolutionaries across the Arab world reflects a sense of unity in the rejection of tyrannical, or at least authoritarian, leaders, corruption and the rule of a small financial and political elite.Arab protests in solidarity with the Egyptian people also suggest that there is a strong yearning for the revival of Egypt as a pan-Arab unifier and leader. Photographs of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the former Egyptian president, have been raised in Cairo and across Arab capitals by people who were not even alive when Nasser died in 1970. The scenes are reminiscent of those that swept Arab streets in the 1950s and 1960s.
But this is not an exact replica of the pan-Arab nationalism of those days. Then, pan-Arabism was a direct response to Western domination and the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel. Today, it is a reaction to the absence of democratic freedoms and the inequitable distribution of wealth across the Arab world.
We are now witnessing the emergence of a movement for democracy that transcends narrow nationalism or even pan-Arab nationalism and which embraces universal human values that echo from north to south and east to west.
This is not to say that there is no anti-imperialist element within the current movement. But the protests in Egypt and elsewhere promote a deeper understanding of human emancipation, which forms the real basis for freedom from both repression and foreign domination. more..e-mail

The struggle for al-Araqib is the struggle for Palestine
Electronic Intifada: 4 Mar 2011 – Al-Araqib was the last village I visited before my arrest. Al-Araqib is not just a village, but the very heart of a nation and a people. On 5 May 2010, I was there under the tent of Sheikh Sayah, a local leader. There was a big crowd after the destruction and the reconstruction of the village. We met there until late at night, taking advantage of the desert darkness. Ameer Makhoul comments.more

Girls’ School Evacuated After Bomb Threat
Palestine Monitor: 4 Mar 2011 – Fareen Diyaseen unlocked the gates to the ‘Einabouss Secondary School for Girls before any other staff had arrived. The threats had already started, and her routine was interrupted by calls from scared parents. “If we got to face it, we will,” Diyaseen said she told parents over the phone. “Eight students didn’t come in the morning because of fear. Fear of death.” Teachers were posted on the roof to watch the adjacent hilltop’s outposts from the notoriously vicious, illegal settlement of Yitzhar. Former Israeli Prime Minister called a violent march from Yitzhar a “pogrom” and its settlers have killed people, bombed houses and burned cars in many towns around Nablus . Diyaseen was in a meeting with a parent when the phone rang. In what sounded like a Hebrew accent to her, the caller said: “We are settlers. After all these threats, there are still people in the school? Right away,…more

BDS Success Answered by ‘Boycott Arab Goods’ Smear
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Mar 2011 – By Stuart Littlewood Congratulations, BDS campaigners. Your global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions effort is hurting Israel so much that panic-stricken propaganda bosses are casting about in desperation for something to hit back with… for example, the libelous press release which portrays yours truly and other Palestine freedom campaigners as promoters of a new movement boycotting Arab goods. This tissue of lies arrived the same day as news that Israel is spending $1.6 million to train “new media warriors” in the use of social media tools for disseminating the regime’s endless stream of disinformation. Of course, it’s nothing new. Israel’s Ministry of Dirty Tricks launched a revised training manual eighteen months ago to serve as a communications primer for the army of cyber-scribblers it was then recruiting to spread Zionism’s poison across the internet. According to the lie machine I addressed hundreds of Muslim Britons in front of the Libyan embassy…more

Beacon that is Israel: Self-serving by Delay, Denial
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Mar 2011 – By William A. Cook ‘Calls for democracy … stem from …an inner hunger for freedom.’ — (Tzipi Livni, Washington Post, 2/24/11) A beacon is a signal fire, a warning light to guide one out of darkness; as the former Foreign Affairs Minister for Israel noted in late February, “These are days of momentous change in the Middle East …” Courageous thousands demand their rights as human beings, she intones, there is an inner hunger for freedom abroad in the land. But those courageous thousands have lit a fire that is a beacon for Israel, if it heeds it, a warning that it alone of all the states in the Middle East could be left defying the peoples’ demands for human rights and freedoms. Yet Livni, and Edward Koch last week, went to the media not to announce that Israel would alter its treatment of the Palestinians, they simply ignored the…more